maenad

noun

1. (Greek, also, attributive)A female follower of Dionysus (“the god of wine”), associated with intense revelling.

   “VVild yuie) for it is dedicated to Bacchus & therefore it is ſayd that the Mænades (that is Bacchus franticke prieſtes) vſed in theyr ſacrifice to carry Thyrſos, vvhich vvere pointed ſtaues or Iauelins, vvrapped about vvith yuie.”

   “The ſecrets of the good goddeſs are knovvn, vvhen the pipe the loins / Incites; and alſo vvith the horn, and vvith vvine, the Mænads of Priapus / Are driven, aſtoniſhed, and toſs their hair and hovvl.”

   “I, a most enamoured maiden / Whose weak brain is overladen / With the pleasure of her love, / Maniac-like around thee move / Gazing, an insatiate bride, / On thy form from every side / Like a Mænad, round the cup / Which Agave lifted up / In the wierd^([sic – meaning weird]) Cadmæan forest.”

   “Even in the uttermost frenzy of energy is each mænad movement royally, imperially, incedingly upborne.”

   “All about the walls hung pen and oil sketches of fantastic sea-monsters; dances of satyrs and menads; […]”

2. (broadly, derogatory, literary)An excessively emotional or wild woman.

   “Blanche Stroeve was in the cruel grip of appetite. Perhaps she hated Strickland still, but she hungered for him, and everything that had made up her life till then became of no account. She ceased to be a woman, complex, kind and petulant, considerate and thoughtless; she was a Maenad. She was desire.”